“So, it’s all set.” Evelin questioned one of the strategists standing next to her.

“Yes Princess Evelin, the allocated soldiers, along with the Forest il- Forest dwellers militia have been organized.”

“Excellent news. What about medicine and explosives?” The strategist discussed briefly with the others before looking back to her.

“All have been provided an ample amount of both Princess Evelin.” She smiled for a second.

“Another victory to add to my name I hope, and also an opportunity to finally expand to the forest and relocate the guards here to the west wall.” She explained, taking a deep breath afterwards in anticipation of the battle.

They stood just outside the tent, the team a few feet away from them making their final preparations.

“The size of the army we have worries me.” Kayd remarked.

“How so? At least we’re not doing this on our own right?” Ikari replied.

“Yeah, just worrying that this much manpower is needed to take on this den.”

“Feeling nervous? Cold feet?” She repeatedly nudged his arm with a sly smile.

“No no, not feeling cold feet and definitely not nervous.” He shot back at her with a confident smirk.

“Alright then, what about a little contest then if you’re not so nervous then. The one who has more kills after this wins.”

“What, no prize for it?” Ikari looked at Kayd with a curious expression.

“You want the cloak I'm wearing? The necklace of skulls? Maybe something more….Like my bow?” She neared her face to Kayd, who slowly moved her away with the hilt of his sword.

“Ok then, no prize. But it doesn’t mean I'm gonna throw in the towel.”

“Now that’s the good ol hunter’s spirit!”

Once finished preparing, they walked past Evelin and towards the rows of soldiers.

Stationed just behind the frontline, the Princess said we’ll move in once the first wave is gone. Right now we just pick off any rat that breaks through. I’ll cut them down where they stand.

The sky above turned cloudy, and it seemed the entire forest turned silent.

Soldiers surrounded the immediate outer area, forming walls of spears and shields to kill anything that tries to charge forward, and protect against any strikes.

Just behind the defense line, smaller teams of archers stood by with arrows ready. Ikari was with them, wanting to spend their time of waiting to take potshots at rats.

“Will the explosives be enough for this one Captain?” Kayd asked.

“That…I am unsure of, i doubt it so that’s why i ordered to bring double the amount. Even then the dens may have expanded and need more holes sealed.” Ishmael explained. She was eager to fight, her focus primarily on getting in, finding that bastard that leads the rats and killing it. Hopefully to regain her reputation and title back.

Quellin held his longsword, his armor made him blend in almost easily with the other soldiers, another member of the army. From his appearance to his posture.

Lia sat down behind them in nervousness, tinkering with samples she found before to calm down. She was still visibly irritated by something, but retained the fearful feeling she always had.

Kayd became impatient, his eyes staring straight at the hole where that horde should emerge from at any moment.

The overseer stood near the frontline with his lesser armored militia, a shred of doubt on whether they could repel the horde with the others or get consumed by it hovered in his mind.

He looks experienced, hope he can handle them.

The only thing they could hear were the slight movement of metal armor or the deep breaths of the soldiers.

—---

In their wait, a deafening high pitched screech, louder than what Kayd heard before, shot out of the hole.

This is it…The last den…

A flood composed of various brown, black, and gray hues poured forth from every hole bored into the mountain, their screeches combined like a war cry.

They pushed onwards, climbing on top of one another like a violent growing wave about to strike shore.

“Still yourselves!” The overseer anchored his boots down alongside his men. Behind and beside them, the armored army of Evelin. To the front, the rapidly approaching rat horde.

Archers began to fire rapidly towards them, trying to lower their numbers as much as possible.

“Hold down! Do not move back!” The overseer yelled out.

….

Hundreds upon hundreds of vermin, stabbed or alive, crashed into the armored line, pushing the frontmost to the shields behind them. Loud noises of flesh slamming against wood and metal hit their ears.

Everyone stomped down, anchoring themselves before they started to fall.

“Thrust your spears!” An officer in the lines yelled out, and in synchronized succession, drove their long spears through the gaps of the shields, taking out many of the rats in the process. They retracted and thrust forth, still in sync with each other.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A few of the rats managed to climb up the wall but were quickly shot down by Ikari and the archers.

The wall held on for longer, stuck in place as rats began piling on each other, fearless and careless for their own lives as the flood from the holes continued flowing.

As the piles grew, rats began jumping up and pouncing above the formations, many killed before they could do any damage but some slipped through. They wasted no time clawing and gnawing at anyone in their way, quickly dispatched by the surrounding soldiers.

As the minutes went by, more and more rats began jumping down on the formations from the mounds of corpses, and the formation itself began to slowly split apart, creating holes in their defense and chaos as the rats kept on coming, quickly overwhelming the soldiers.

Ishmael noticed the chaos unfold and turned to Kayd with a determined nod.

“Looks like our time to shine!” Ishmael yelled, ready to take the fight to the heart of the horde with a hatchet in hand.

“How will we do this captain?” Kayd asked.

“All of you except Lia will spread out, and kill any rats the moment they get into the formation. We need to hold it as long as possible!”

“Understood!” With that, they split up, rushing to the nearest rats in the formation.

It did not take long before Kayd spotted the first one.

A large sized rat already clawing at an armored soldier on the ground, desperately trying to fight it off as its claws slowly broke through his armor.

Without a moment of hesitation, Kayd rushed up and slashed clean through the pest’s neck, decapitating it.

“Thank you,” The injured man spoke through labored breaths. Kayd gave a quick nod before moving on to the next target.

As the minutes went by, and the bodies at the front only grew in number, and the flood of rats seemingly unending, Kayd and the team found themselves handling far more rats than expected.

“Begin moving back!” A voice yelled out from behind. Unable to take the pouncing attacks, they began moving back from the mounds of corpses.

Kayd ran around the entire formation, taking out a dozen rats in just a minute, with many more still coming as the formation slowly marched back.

As they did though, the overseer and his militia found themselves at the mercy of a worse threat.

Looking out at the front, a rat king stood still, its eyes fixated on the overseer and his sword as if wanting to take it. It bared its teeth to him, releasing a low guttural growl.

The rat lunged forward and immediately decimated the weak line of militia, tossing many into the air and becoming food for the remaining rats while others were thrown back.

Too close to using explosives, we might harm the troops. Damnit.

Kayd tried thinking of different methods to try and kill the creature, staring intently at it, glued to it.

While thinking, a wind chime noise stalled his thinking.

A scrap of paper rested on his palm, in it read:

May you use this ability well [Piercing strike] Focus intently on your target, look at them for a few seconds, and in a few seconds, the fire of the hunt shall burn, and not even thick metal armor may save them.

Piercing strike?

Looking at his wrist, he saw the black bars had reduced to five but still looked similar to what was on Lia’s wrist. His hand started to glow a purple hue, resembling fire, but it did not feel hot nor hurt him.

Staring back at the creature, he repeated what the paper said. He took a few steps forward, staring at the rat, concentrated, following everything the paper said.

He dashed towards the rat, moving past armored soldiers, dodging its claw, and getting on top of it.

Let’s see if this works

Kayd pushed down his sword on top of the rat king’s head. Unlike before, the sword broke through the metal fur, the blade was fully embedded into the rat’s head, needing little strength to pierce down.

The beast screeched in pain for a few moments before going limp and falling to the ground with a loud thud.

Jeez, could have used this thing back in the second den!

On his wrist, one of the bars was gone.

The overseer and remaining soldiers moved behind the second line, this time with no more obstacles they took out the explosives they were saving.

“Get out of the way!” A soldier yelled, Kayd jumped off and hurriedly ran towards the shields.

The flood of rats continued on with no signs of ending or weakening, a few rat kings followed right behind them. Staying any longer without advancing would turn this battle into a war for attrition with no gain.

“Ready! Arm! Throw!” All at once, grenades flew in the air and fell to the ground like rain, scattering across the battlefield.

The flat field of corpses was immediately obscured, enveloped by a hot, orange, and deafening cloud. The horde of rats were decimated in an instant without any mercy, their screeches and screams turning silent immediately.

Kayd looked on in amazement, his mouth wide open. Rarely had he ever seen such a level of destruction in one place.

The soldiers threw the explosives 2 more times before letting the smoke clear.

The flat area covered in corpses of friend and foe alike was gone, replaced by small crates, blood stains, and remnants of fur and flesh.

“That was…” He muttered to himself.

“Awesome!” Ikari exclaimed from behind him.

“All soldiers move forward!” Evelin came out from the safety of the rear line, lifting her sword up and moving in front of the soldiers, a bundle of explosives strapped to her waist.

The soldiers yelled in unison and began marching forward, creating a menacing creeping march of metal boots, moving towards the hotels.

Rat kings began to emerge, along with more of the common rats, but the fear of seeing them was all but gone, and the soldiers simply began tossing volleys of explosives at the rats as they emerged, destroying them where they stood.

“Your interference really made this easy, wonder why you didn’t just do this before,” Ishmael commented.

“We had no interest in helping the forest, considering the fact that the forest ilk are just civilians tired of us, why waste resources like that when there are worse matters? But the damage to the river has rendered this as a sacred battle for the Stone’s Edge kingdom to settle. Luckily I managed to scrounge up enough reserves from the eastern front.” Evelin replied.

The soldiers all charged forward, carrying more of their explosives. They began dropping them into the smaller holes, killing anything inside them and sealing it.

“Once we enter we’ll focus on covering more ground and sealing any holes we find. Find the very head of this entire horde and sever it.” Evelin relayed her order to Ishmael and the others.

Soldiers and the team all started rushing into the cave with torches and explosives in hand, shouting loudly in celebration. But their joys were silenced the moment they took a step into the hole, the well-known noise of the rats snarling greeted them.